Ethanol can be produced from grain-based feedstocks (e.g., corn, sorghum/milo, barley, wheat, soybeans, etc.), from sugar (e.g., sugar cane, sugar beets, etc.), or from biomass (e.g., lignocellulosic feedstocks, such as switchgrass, corn cobs and stover, wood, or other plant material).
In a conventional ethanol plant, corn is used as a feedstock and ethanol is produced from starch contained within the corn. Corn kernels are cleaned and milled to prepare starch-containing material for processing. Corn kernels can also be fractionated to separate the starch-containing material (e.g., endosperm) from other matter (such as fiber and germ). The starch-containing material is slurried with water and liquefied to facilitate saccharification, where the starch is converted into sugar (e.g., glucose), and fermentation, where the sugar is converted by an ethanologen (e.g., yeast) into ethanol. The fermentation product is beer, which comprises a liquid component, including ethanol, water, and soluble components, and a solids component, including unfermented particulate matter (among other things). The fermentation product is sent to a distillation system where the fermentation product is distilled and dehydrated into ethanol. The residual matter (e.g., whole stillage) comprises water, soluble components, oil, and unfermented solids (e.g., the solids component of the beer with substantially all ethanol removed, which can be dried into dried distillers grains (DDG) and sold, for example, as an animal feed product). Other co-products (e.g., syrup and oil contained in the syrup), can also be recovered from the whole stillage. Water removed from the fermentation product in distillation can be treated for re-use at the plant.
Water utilized in the production of ethanol can be obtained from many different sources (e.g., ground well water, surface water, or municipal water), resulting in different water qualities. Water used in the generation of steam may be filtered (e.g., by reverse osmosis) to reduce the level of dissolved solids. Water that contains the dissolved solids (e.g., reverse osmosis reject) is removed and dispensed.
It would be advantageous to provide for a system that reduces water usage in the production of ethanol. It would also be advantageous to provide for a system that captures and uses waste water streams as a way to reduce overall water usage in the production of ethanol. It would further be advantageous to provide for a method for balancing the total dissolved solids, suspended solids, and other minerals and ions to reduce water usage in the production of ethanol.